Is Hughie Fury ready for Joseph Parker?

Joseph Parker will defend his WBO heavyweight title against Hughie Fury on April 1, in Auckland NZ.

By Perry Lynden (@PerryLyndenldn)

A long rumoured fight between Hughie Fury (20-0 10KOs) and Joseph Parker (22-0 18 KOs) will take place in New Zealand on the 1st of April, with Joseph Parker putting his WBO Heavyweight World Title on the line for the first time.

Fury is ranked number 2 by the WBO and is the mandatory challenger to the WBO strap with David Haye electing instead to fight Tony Bellew. Joseph Parker won his title on points in New Zealand in a hard fought clash against Andy Ruiz Jnr, and is coming off five wins in 2016. Fury on the other hand is lacking momentum and has not fought since March 2016, in an uninspiring win over Fred Kassi.

The fight itself is an interesting match-up, Fury is the taller man and has a better amateur pedigree, however Parker appears to be the stronger man and has a better professional resumé. By the eye-test alone, Fury seems to possess the better boxing skill set, yet at the young age of 22, he does not look at physically imposing as his potential Kiwi opponent. This is a worry Fury himself has addressed and will surely not be lost on his father and train, Peter Fury.

Challenger Fury may have picked a bad time to challenge for a career defining fight. He will have been out of action for over 12 months and could well be quite rusty by now, we all saw how Billy-Joe Saunders deteriorated during his absence from the ring. I would prefer to see such a talent young fighter given time to grow into himself, develop his strength and build momentum with some good wins before challenging for a World Title.